Custom Join & Leave Messages
Every Minecraft server has a personality, and few things shape that first impression faster than the words players see when someone logs in or heads out. Custom Join & Leave Messages is a lightweight server-side add-on that hands that power directly to your players, letting each person write their own entrance and exit lines instead of relying on a single generic broadcast. The result is a livelier chat, more inside jokes, and a community that feels genuinely yours.
What Custom Join & Leave Messages Does
Out of the box, Minecraft announces arrivals and departures with the same bland sentence for everyone. This mod changes that by giving each player control over their own text. Whether someone wants a dramatic villain monologue, a simple "back in a bit," or a color-coded banner that matches their skin, the choice is theirs. Server operators get a more engaging chat feed without writing a single script or config file by hand.
The add-on is fully server-side. That means you drop it on the server and players can join with a completely vanilla client. No one needs to install anything on their end, which removes the usual friction of asking an entire community to update their mod loaders just to see a welcome message.
Commands for Join and Leave Messages
Everything runs through two straightforward commands. To set a join message, a player types /join-msg set [Join message here]. For a departure line, the command is /leave-msg set [Leave message here]. Changing your mind later is just as easy: run the same command again with new text and the old message is replaced instantly.
Removing a message entirely takes one more short command. Players can clear their join text with /join-msg remove and their leave text with /leave-msg remove. After that, the server falls back to its default announcement for that player, so nothing breaks if someone decides they would rather stay quiet.
Formatting and Color Codes
Plain text is fine, but the real fun starts with formatting. Custom Join & Leave Messages supports the standard Minecraft formatting codes, so players can add colors, bold, italics, underlines, and more. You can use the section symbol or simply type the ampersand symbol in its place, which is far easier on most keyboards. That small convenience means a message like a golden welcome or a red farewell is only a few characters away.
Supported Versions and Loaders
The mod is built for the Fabric loader and targets modern Minecraft releases, including the 1.20.x and 1.21.x branches, with earlier Fabric-compatible versions covered as well. Because it is server-side only, version matching is simple: as long as the jar matches your server's Minecraft version and Fabric API is present, you are good to go. If you manage several servers on different versions, keeping a copy of each build on hand makes switching painless.
For players who would rather skip manual file juggling, the foxygame.net launcher streamlines the whole process: it lists Custom Join & Leave Messages in its add-on catalog and installs the correct build for your server version with a single click, then keeps it updated automatically.
How to Install Custom Join & Leave Messages
Getting started takes less than a minute. Follow these steps:
- Confirm your server runs Fabric and that Fabric API is installed.
- Download Custom Join & Leave Messages for Minecraft from the official project page, choosing the build that matches your server version.
- Stop the server before making changes.
- Place the mod's jar file into the server's mods folder.
- Restart the server and check the console for a successful load message.
- Join and test with /join-msg set and /leave-msg set to confirm everything works.
Remember that the mod does not need to be installed client side. Only the server requires the jar, so your players can keep using their normal setup.
Tips for Great Messages
A little creativity goes a long way. Keep join messages short enough to read at a glance, use color to separate your name from the text, and save longer stories for your leave line where players have time to laugh. On busy servers, avoid overly bright color combinations that clash with chat, and consider a house style so the feed stays readable.
Final Thoughts
Custom Join & Leave Messages is one of those small additions that quietly transforms a server's atmosphere. It costs almost nothing in performance, requires no client-side installs, and gives every player a tiny stage for their personality. If you want a chat that feels alive from the first login to the last logout, this mod is an easy recommendation for any Fabric server running a current Minecraft version.